Topics

Footnotes and Endnotes

Introduction

The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.) recommends using footnotes or endnotes to cite your sources. Our primary focus will be on the rules for footnotes, but we will provide some guidance for endnotes as well.

Footnotes

Inserting Footnotes

Footnotes are normally inserted at the end of a sentence or clause. In MS Word, go to References > Insert Footnote.

Ada Lovelace is often credited with envisioning the computer;¹ less attention has been paid to her tumultuous personal life.

The only time a footnote number comes before the punctuation is if you’re using a dash. Note as well that you should never insert multiple footnotes right after each other.

Formatting Footnotes

One annoying feature about CMS is that it can be tricky to format your footnotes properly in Microsoft Word. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Use Times New Roman font, size 12.

Indent the first line of each footnote one tab space.

Single space your footnotes, but add a space between each one.

Add a period behind the numbers that start the footnotes.

Change the format of the numbering in the footnotes so that the numbers are not in superscript.

For help with these formatting rules, please watch the video above. Do note that in unpublished manuscripts you are allowed to use superscript in the notes (see section 14.24), so if you’re writing an essay for your teacher you don’t have to worry about the last style rule.

Basic Citations

When you cite a source in a footnote, the key elements (author, title, etc.) are separated by commas:

The basic format of a citation thus includes an author, title, and publication information. For information about citing specific sources, please consult the relevant section from our guide to CMS.

Shortened Citations

Sources that are cited multiple times can be shortened after the first citation. In such cases you can provide just the author’s last name, the title (shortened if longer than four words), and a page reference:

You have some freedom in terms of whether you wish to repeat the author’s entire name.

See and cf.

A common way to introduce references is to write see:

1. Some tennis experts feel that the fifth set tie breaker should be simplified due to the number of power hitters who dominate the service game. See Kevin Isner, “Going the Distance: The Problem of the Fifth Set,” Wimbledon Advantage 55, no. 2 (2018): 22.

You can also use the abbreviation cf. (from Latin confer, compare), but only if you actually intend the reader to compare two perspectives on an issue.

Emphasis

If you want to emphasize part of a quote, add italics, or make any other changes you desire, you can add a quick note at the end of your citation:

5. Castafiore, Milanese Nightingale, 377 (emphasis added).

Multiple Citations

When citing multiple sources in a row, you can often separate them with a semi-colon:

6. Important studies of the history of the kettle include Ernst Schwartz, The Black Kettle (Hamburg: Dietrich Verlag, 2016); Ulrich Smelch, From Cauldron to Kettle (Coventry: Witch’s Press, 2001); and Iris Plasterer, “The Plastic Kettle and the Problem of Limescale.” Kittles and Kettles 17, no. 3 (2007): 14-28.

Cross-Referencing

You can cross reference notes, though you’ll have to double check that your numbering remains accurate:

In the last two examples, the abbreviations n and nn stand for note and notes. The number that precedes them is the page reference.

Beyond Page Numbers

Sometimes it happens that a source does not use page numbers. In that case you may want to substitute a chapter title, a paragraph number, or some other description of where the claim or quote may be located.

By contrast, for many classic literary works you will have to familiarize yourself with how a work is customarily cited. Dante’s Divine Comedy, for instance is usually cited by canto and line number:

1, Dante, Inferno, canto 3, lines 7-8
2. Dante, Inferno, 3.28-29.

In such complex citations you can use the abbreviations p. and pp. (for page and pages), but do write out line and lines.

Endnotes

One reason to prefer endnotes over footnotes is that the latter can be a distraction from the body of your text. On the other hand, the downside to endnotes is that many readers don’t like flipping back and forth to compare the notes to the text.

Endnotes are primarily used for books and select scholarly publications. Most students can rely on using footnotes instead.

Citations in endnotes follow the same rules as for footnotes. However, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends that for the sake of clarity writers are more cautious about using shortened citations (see above).

To format your endnotes, add the title “Notes.” If you’re working with a longer document, you can add section headings as well (e.g., “Chapter 5” or “Chapter 5: The Wedding from Hell”). In such cases you can restart the numbering, beginning with 1.

Finally, when using endnotes in a book it is customary to add a running head to each page (e.g., “notes to pages 77-79”) to make it easy for readers to match up the notes with the original citation.

More Information

For more information about footnotes and endnotes, see sections 14.1-14.60 of the Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.).